Seattle Seahawks Top Breakout Candidate in 2026
Newsweek · C · trust 41/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Jadarian Price would be the easiest answer here. The Seattle Seahawks selected him 32nd overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, and with Kenneth Walker III now in Kansas City and Zach Charbonnet recovering from a torn ACL, Price might be forced into a lead role early.
But he's still a rookie, and there might be some growing pains along the way. After all, he never held the lead role in his three years at Notre Dame.
AJ Barner, meanwhile, may be in line to break out and cement himself as one of the best tight ends in the entire NFL this season.
Barner's snap share jumped from 46% as a rookie in 2024 to 78% last season, and he more than doubled his production. Appearing in all 17 games, he finished with 519 yards and six touchdowns on 52 catches, all career highs.
He also posted a 74.4 overall PFF grade , the 11th-highest grade among all tight ends, and a 76.9 receiving grade, which ranked 10th.
Barner saved some of his best football for the biggest stage as well, hauling in all four of his targets for 54 yards and a touchdown in Seattle's Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots.
Heading into 2026, everything's in front of him to take an even bigger step forward.
With the Seahawks likely turning to Price to start the season, chances are they won't be as run-heavy on offense this year. They also just lost their offensive coordinator from last season, Klint Kubiak, who's now the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
At receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is Sam Darnold's clear No. 1 target, but Cooper Kupp just turned 33 years old and already saw his production dip last season. Rashid Shaheed, meanwhile, is more of a field-stretcher than a possession option, posting just 188 receiving yards on 15 catches over nine games with the Seahawks after getting traded.
That leaves the middle of the field wide open for Barner to feast.
He'll have some competition for targets from 2025 second-round pick Elijah Arroyo, who's reportedly impressed early in training camp. But there's no indication Seattle plans to pull the ball out of Barner's hands after the year he just had.
At 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, Barner remains a big, reliable target Darnold can lean on in the red zone, and if he can push his yardage total north of 800 with anywhere close to last year's touchdown rate, he may be looking at his first Pro Bowl season.
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